Midmarket leveraged loans historically have been a playground for institutional investors. But individual investors may want to pay more attention to the sector as they contemplate asset allocation, a recent report from Barclays PLC said.

On a comparative basis, since 1997, the average premium for loan spreads of midmarket loans has been about 55 basis points higher than the average spread of broadly syndicated loans, according to S&P Capital IQ Leveraged Commentary and Data and other data cited by the Barclays report. The current spread gap is at historically wide levels, of 170 basis points.

In addition, midmarket loans have featured lower debt multiples, lower default rates and higher recovery rates than larger corporate loans, according to the report.

When asked about the New York firm’s logic for the offerings on a conference call last week to discuss KKR’s second-quarter earnings, principal Scott Nuttall pointed to the size of the individual investor base, with some $20 trillion of assets, compared with $35 trillion of institutional assets.

“Historically, KKR has not talked to retail investors,” Nuttall said. “About 18 months ago, we started a platform for high net-worth individuals and family offices, and we started conversation for the first time.”

“More liquid alternatives are not only of interest to institutional investors, but also of high interest to retail investors in this very low rate environment and this volatile stock market environment,” Nuttall said.